Describing the holiday as "a subsidy for gun buyers paid for by nongun buyers," Tax Foundation economist Mark Robyn criticized the state for providing preferential treatment to a single industry.
"The government should be acting in a neutral way toward all purchases," Robyn said.
As we have mentioned before, sales tax holidays do not promote economic growth or significantly increase consumer purchases; the evidence shows that they simply shift the timing of purchases. As the gun store owners make clear, sales tax holidays create complexities for tax code compliance, efficient labor allocation, and inventory management. Most sales tax holidays, this one included, involve politicians picking products and industries to favor with exemptions, arbitrarily discriminating between products and across time, and distorting consumer decisions.
For more information on sales tax holidays, read our recently released Special Report No. 171, "Sales Tax Holidays: Politically Expedient but Poor Tax Policy," or also or listen to Mark Robyn's podcast on the topic.